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A great start to a new series which has the benefit that we are already familiar with several of the characters and has the story of Nemesis and the whole of TNG to build on. The book is very well written and strikes a very satisfying balance between action and character development which keeps the momentum of the story rolling throughout. If I had to make a criticism it is that the story feels a little hurried, as the first third of the book is spent introducing the crew and preparing for launch. As such the A-plot of the book - the Romulan power struggle - progresses and is resolved a little too quickly for me, it is not quite of the same epic proportions as, say, Nemesis. That aside, I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the whole series.

This book was really, REALLY well written, and it is good to see it so well recieved. I suppose a case could be made that the 'shallowness' of the characters could relate to the fact that many of them will (hopefully) evolve over the course of the series. Reading the next two offerings, I believe that some critics will appreciate that they do in fact develop, some a great deal. As a Romulan fan, it seems to me that the authors are going out of their way to utterly destroy the Romulan Empire as we know it, but it truly seems a likely scenario. Even I must admit the Romulan story is logical and well done. For more background and continuation with the vast political motions the authors allude to, read "The Sundered" (Lost Era series) and of course the highly recommended "Articles of the Federation". The most recent additions to the Titan series ("The Red King" and "Orion's Hounds") are also excellent. If you liked this book, you will definitely want these others. Be warned, you won't be able to put them down.

I have to disagree with the majority of the opinions expressed here, the plot was certainly promising but I felt that it developed poorly, furthermore the lack of description of the design of the ship made it difficult to visualise any of the ships interiors and any exterior action. I realise this was done for that design competition but perhaps they could have ran the competition first. I also was mildly annoyed by the crew of the ship, the characters felt shallow, and again a lack of description of the alien races made it difficult to visualise them. I still like the book, but it could have been better. Sorry to rant; I have pre-ordered the next one anyway........

Captain William Riker's new command, the USS Titan, has been ordered to chart much of the previously unexplored Orion arm of the galaxy. However, when a political crisis occurrs in the weakened Romulan Star Empire, Titan is diverted to Romulus with a humanitarian task force. Things nearly go tragically awry for the new and ethnically diverse crew of the Federation's new Luna-class vessel. One of the most enjoyable Trek books I have ever read, "Taking Wing" introduces a whole new ship with a mostly new crew to the Trek universe, offering hope for continuing life to the long and hallowed Star Trek saga. The use of Christine Vale, Alyssa Ogawa, and of course Riker and Troi as members of the crew gives the book a connection that gives the reader the feeling of familiarity that so many Star Trek fans have come to appreciate: there is no doubt that this book keeps alive the feeling of watching a family grow and develop. Ambassador Spock, Commander Tuvok, as well as lesser returning characters such as Commander Donatra add to this familiarity. The rest of the crew is introduced as a very heterogeneous bunch, that learns to adapt to each others differences and work together. This can be intense for the reader, attempting to remember the names of an entirely new crew, as well as getting over the natural assumption that these are crewmembers who look like us (when infact, many are not even humanoid). Overall, this factor only backs up the ideas of IDIC that have driven Star Trek over the years, and provide that hope of a brotherhood of man (or in this case alieans), and the task of remembering which crewmember belongs to which species must fit in very well with the experience of the crew that Mangels and Martin convey so well. The charm of this book is that it keeps the world of Star Trek alive: a world strange, yet strangely familiar, that continues to expland and develop in the minds of its fans. There is little I can say to denounce this book in any way, as it adapts entirely well to the Star Trek world without raising any eyebrows about plot consistency, character development, or being bogged down by picayune technical details. If anything, I wish this book the same as I wish any reader of this review: Peace and long life.

A decent introduction to a promising 'series', but the book is let down by the fact that most of the characters are introduced in the first half of the book and are promptly dropped in the second half of the book, when the Romulan storyline kicks in. Aside from that, the stroy is well told, with great characters (Dr Ree) in particular- and unlike 'A Time To be Born' Riker feels like Riker and Troi feels like Troi. A worthy addition to the Trek novels...

This book has an excellent plotline and good development of the characters involved. It does a great job of continuing the storyline established by Nemesis, as well as many Trek novels written before it. It also diverges from the typical Trek heterosexual scope of the world, which was refreshing. All in all, a good read.

I recently completed this book, along with Articles of the Federation. I would highly recomed both of these titles to anyone who is interested in a little more detail then StarTrek has been offering lately. Taking Wing is the first adventure of the Luna-Class starship Titan under the command of Captain Willian T. Riker. The events of this novel take place in the end of the year 2379, shortly after the events in Star Trek: Nemesis. This book describes the mission that Riker talked about at the end of the movie Nemesis in which he was taking his new ship the neutral zone, well in fact he actually goes to Romulas. The Titan is one of the new class of ship designed to bring Starfleet back to it's original mission of exploration after nearly a decade of war. Rikers crew is comprised of several known faces and more then a few new ones, as the Titan is the first ship in Starfleet history where the majority of the crew is not human, infact only 15% of the crew are human. I'm not going to talk about the storyline of this novel however, i will say that this novel is extremely well written and that it satisifies a lacking in the Star trek Universe of late.

This was a great debut effort for Capt. Riker and his motley crew of non-humanoids. Very interesting characters, good use of previously known peoples, solid story, too bad this won't be a feature film or TV show.....